Description

Saddle Peak, located on Stunt Road, near the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains, is a north facing sandstone outcrop. While Saddle Peak receives modest traffic from climbers the rock exhibits a grainy/ball barring feel under foot and a considerable amount of lichen throughout.

Saddle Peak hosts fifteen bolt protected "sport" routes, which often take or may require supplemental traditional gear, depending on your abilities and head for run outs on moderate grades. Remember to bring a selection of cams and nuts for most routes.

The rock is sandstone and sandstone conglomerate, with aggregate, xenoliths, or pebbles protruding from the matrix, on many routes. While Saddle Peak seems to be the perfect low commitment sport crag, the north facing aspect makes it shady and cold in the winter and sunny and hot in the summer. The best climbing days are warm fall or winter days and cool spring days.

The main wall is referred to as the "Corpse Wall" as the route developers discovered a body at the base. The crag was developed in the mid-2000s.

Getting There

Santa Monica Mountains. Park at the intersection of Stunt Road, Saddle Peak Road and Schueren Road hike up the Backbone trail to the west (towards water tower). The slabs are an obvious formation approximately 3/4 mile up the trail. The trail climbs for the first 1/2 mile and then descends slightly to the climbs - main wall to the left of the trail.

The route follows an arete at the edge of the formation - comibnation of face and arete climbing. The crux is moving through the last two bolts to the anchor. An easier option is to stay left on the arete or move slight right for a harder finish up the face....[more]Browse More Classics in CA

I just wanted to clear up some information about "the slabs." It is actually called Corpse Wall due to the corpse we found at the bottom of the route "R.I.P. Arete" where the cross is located. All the routes were put up by Abraham E. Benjamin M. Brahm H. Darren A. Mike O. I also wanted to add that the corpse was a guy that committed suicide. We know this because he left a note. There was a strong effort to make everything bomber. We did not put anchors on the top of all the routes because it was not needed and would have been a much bigger footprint.

The routes have all been put up in the last 5 years. There are some more recent routes that have not yet been bolted but can be TR. I would also like to add that there are some random bolts on the wall that someone put in for no known or obvious reason. There are some routes that use pro as well as draws. In general. the routes were never intended to be sport routes. If anyone's interested, I'll post the names and ratings of all the routes in the next couple of weeks.

Might want to change the name to Saddle Peak, since that's where this is. This place was developed by the same guys who did Tick Rock but they've disappeared so no route info is known. Very cool place for what it is.

I think they had gear in mind between some of the bolts. I know I brought some, and maybe placed it. If the routes were at my limit I certainly would have. I recommend a small rack if pushing limits and onsighting here.

Thanks Steve. Feedback appreciated. I need to get out there and get some beta on the other 7 or so routes. It is a fun area to climb in and the slabs are a nice break from the pockets and overhangs at MCSP.

Eric, The approach for setting topropes is super easy. Just keep walking along the top of the cliff (instead of turning right and walking to the bottom of the wall). Some routes have bolt anchors (reachable from the top) and placing gear for the others is possible. I think all of the routes are toprope-able (I haven't tried, but it seems pretty possible).

All the routes can be TR'd and access to the topside is easy (follow Jim's directions). Some climbs share anchors and may need a directional clipped to a bolt. The (shared) anchor for the RIP Arete and the Roof Route requires extension with a cordalette to TR without major rope drag.

PS: @Benjamin- We are definitely interested in the real route names. If you have the time to send us the info, we'd love to edit the route index for this wall to reflect the names that were originally chosen.

I am wondering about the large formation directly across the trail from corpse rock or saddle peak. Never brought my binocs but there appears to be some shiny anchors on top? Also, I found a misterious bolt on top of another rock on the trail that covers the ridge that goes from the old foundation and radio tower trail over to the top of red rock. If anyone has any idea what I'm talking about I would love to know more about it.

This west-facing pocketed face rates 11-ish (?). Top-side access up the bushy south-face gully. Some 5.0 climbing involved to get down to the bolts. You'll need LONG webbing to extend the anchor since the rope drag is gnarly. We anchored and belayed off the boulder over by the RIP Arete to reduce rope drag. The rock quality is poor compared to Corpse Wall.

The north-facing big slab-climbs are a grunge-fest. Belay is only possible from the topside-down because of the manzanita jungle* at the base. The big gullies that split the slab make it less fun than it looks.

That being said.. it definitely will liven up your day if you are bored with the 5.9 slab climbing.

*Please note that cutting manzanita is against state law and the park service has prohibited any new access trails being created around the formation.

Note: The topo for Corpse Wall in the most recent So Cal guide has a number of errors. Fortunately, since all the grades are moderate you won't really run into trouble. The info and topo here on MP is more accurate.

Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 2014. Record high temps for the holidays at 86 degrees Downtown. Beautiful conditions at Saddle Peak with four parties of climbers and a group High-lining across the gap. Everyone having a great time. AWESOME!!

Hi folks! I'm gonna ge going to this spot this sunday and i've never explored these mountains and i would like some beta about stealth camping. the sites are expensive and i also have a dog. I looked on the NPS page and dogs are allowed in the park just not in the bc. is this spot considered bc or fc? I saw the approach is like 1/2 a mile long so whats the scoop. any advice would be swell. or at least a section where you know is decent and i could scope it out when i get there. cheers -M

So a bunch of people were out at Saddle climbing today around 11 when a guy walks down the trail and tells us all that we're on private land, that he's the broker and the land was resurveyed. He didn't say we were trespassing and didn't ask us to leave. In fact he told us to take care. What's up with that?